Pierre Jean-Marie Laval (French pronunciation: ​[pjɛʁ laval];
28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the
time of the Third Republic, he served as
Prime Minister of FrancePrime Minister of France from
27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932, and a second time from 7 June
1935 to 24 January 1936.
Laval began his career as a socialist, but over time drifted far to
the right. Following France's defeat and armistice with Germany in
1940, he served in prominent roles in Philippe Pétain's Vichy Regime,
first as the vice-president of the Council of Ministers from 11 July
1940 to 13 December 1940, and later as the head of government from 18
April 1942 to 20 August 1944.
After the liberation of France in 1944, Laval was arrested by the
French government under General Charles de Gaulle. In what was widely
regarded as a flawed trial, Laval was found guilty of high treason,
and after a thwarted suicide attempt, he was executed by firing
squad.[2] His manifold political activities left a complicated and
controversial legacy, resulting in more than a dozen conflicting
biographies of him.

Contents

1 Early life
2 Marriage and family
3 Before the war
4 During the First World War

4.1 Socialist Deputy for the Seine
4.2 Stockholm, the "polar star"

5 Initial postwar career

5.1 From Socialist to Independent
5.2 Mayor of Aubervilliers
5.3 Independent Deputy for the Seine

Early life[edit]
Laval was born 28 June 1883 at Châteldon, Puy-de-Dôme, in the
northern part of Auvergne. His father worked in the village as a café
proprietor, butcher and postman; he also owned a vineyard and horses.
Laval was educated at the village school in Châteldon. At age 15, he
was sent to a Paris lycée to study for his baccalauréat. Returning
south to Lyon, he spent the next year reading for a degree in
zoology.[3]
Laval joined the Socialists in 1903, when he was living in
Saint-Étienne, 62 km southwest of Lyon. "I was never a very
orthodox socialist", he said in 1945, "by which I mean that I was
never much of a Marxist. My socialism was much more a socialism of the
heart than a doctrinal socialism... I was much more interested in men,
their jobs, their misfortunes and their conflicts than in the
digressions of the great German pontiff."[4]
Laval returned to Paris in 1907 at the age of 24. He was called up for
military service and, after serving in the ranks, was discharged for
varicose veins.[citation needed] In April 1913 he said: "Barrack-based
armies are incapable of the slightest effort, because they are
badly-trained and, above all, badly commanded." He favoured abolition
of the army and replacement by a citizens' militia.[5]
During this period, Laval became familiar with the left-wing doctrines
of
Georges SorelGeorges Sorel and Hubert Lagardelle. In 1909, he turned to the law.
Marriage and family[edit]
Shortly after becoming a member of the Paris bar, he married the
daughter of Dr
Joseph ClaussatJoseph Claussat and set up a home in Paris with his new
wife. Their only child, a daughter Josée, was born in 1911. Josée
married René de Chambrun, whose uncle,
Nicholas LongworthNicholas Longworth III,
married Alice Roosevelt, daughter of United States President Theodore
Roosevelt. Although Laval's wife came from a political family, she
never participated in politics. Laval was generally considered to be
devoted to his family.[6]
Before the war[edit]
The years before the First World War were characterised by labour
unrest, and Laval defended strikers, trade unionists, and left-wing
agitators against government attempts to prosecute them. At a trade
union conference, Laval said:

I am a comrade among comrades, a worker among workers. I am not one of
those lawyers who are mindful of their bourgeois origin even when
attempting to deny it. I am not one of those high-brow attorneys who
engage in academic controversies and pose as intellectuals. I am proud
to be what I am. A lawyer in the service of manual laborers who are my
comrades, a worker like them, I am their brother. Comrades, I am a
manual lawyer.[7]

During the First World War[edit]
Socialist Deputy for the Seine[edit]
In April 1914, as fear of war swept the nation, the Socialists and
Radicals geared up their electoral campaign in defence of peace. Their
leaders were
Jean JaurèsJean Jaurès and Joseph Caillaux. The Bloc des Gauches
(Leftist Bloc) denounced the law passed in July 1913 extending
compulsory military service from two to three years. The
Confédération générale du travailConfédération générale du travail trade union sought Laval as
Socialist candidate for the Seine, the district comprising Paris and
its suburbs. He won. The Radicals, with the support of Socialists,
held the majority in the French Chamber of Deputies. Together they
hoped to avert war. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of
Austria on 28 June 1914 and of Jaurès on 31 July 1914 shattered those
hopes. Laval's brother, Jean, died in the first months of the war.
Laval briefly served in the army before being released for varicose
veins. He was listed in the Carnet B,[8] a compilation of potentially
subversive elements who might hinder mobilisation. In the name of
national unity, Minister of the Interior Jean-Louis Malvy, despite
pressure from chiefs of staff, refused to have anyone apprehended.
Laval remained true to his pacifist convictions during the war. In
December 1915, Jean Longuet, grandson of Karl Marx, proposed to
Socialist parliamentarians that they communicate with socialists of
other states, hoping to press governments into a negotiated peace.
Laval signed on, but the motion was defeated.
With France's resources geared for war, goods were scarce or
overpriced. On 30 January 1917, in the National Assembly Laval called
upon the Supply Minister
Édouard HerriotÉdouard Herriot to deal with the inadequate
coal supply in Paris. When Herriot said, "If I could, I would unload
the barges myself", Laval retorted "Do not add ridicule to
ineptitude".[9] The words delighted the assembly and attracted the
attention of George Clemenceau, but left the relationship between
Laval and Herriot permanently strained.
Stockholm, the "polar star"[edit]
Laval scorned the conduct of the war and the poor supply of troops in
the field. When mutinies broke out after General Robert Nivelle's
offensive of April 1917 at Chemin des Dames, he spoke in defence of
the mutineers. When
Marcel CachinMarcel Cachin and
Marius MoutetMarius Moutet returned from St.
Petersburg in June 1917 with the invitation to a socialist convention
in Stockholm, Laval saw a chance for peace. In an address to the
Assembly, he urged the chamber to allow a delegation to go: "Yes,
Stockholm, in response to the call of the Russian Revolution... Yes,
Stockholm, for peace... Yes, Stockholm the polar star." The request
was denied.
The hope of peace in spring 1917 was overwhelmed by discovery of
traitors, some real, some imagined, as with Malvy who became a suspect
because he had refused to arrest Frenchmen on the Carnet B. Laval's
"Stockholm, étoile polaire" speech had not been forgotten. Many of
Laval's acquaintances, the publishers of the anarchist Bonnet rouge,
and other pacifists were arrested or interrogated. Though Laval
frequented pacifist circles – it was said that he was acquainted
with
Leon TrotskyLeon Trotsky – the authorities did not pursue him. His status
as a deputy, his caution, and his friendships protected him. In
November 1917, Clemenceau became Prime Minister and offered Laval a
post in his government. Laval refused, as the Socialist Party refused
to enter any government, but he questioned the wisdom of such a policy
in a meeting of the Socialist members of parliament.
Initial postwar career[edit]
From Socialist to Independent[edit]
In the 1919 elections the Socialists' record of pacifism, their
opposition to Clemenceau, and anxiety arising from the excesses of the
Bolshevik RevolutionBolshevik Revolution in Russia contributed to their defeat by the
conservative Bloc National. Laval lost his seat in the Chamber of
Deputies.
The General Confederation of Labour (CGT), with 2,400,000 members,
launched a general strike in 1920, which petered out as thousands of
workers were laid off. In response, the government sought to dissolve
the CGT. Laval, with
Joseph Paul-BoncourJoseph Paul-Boncour as chief counsel, defended
the union's leaders, saving the union by appealing to the ministers
Théodore Steeg (interior) and
Auguste IsaacAuguste Isaac (commerce and industry).
Laval's relations with the Socialist Party drew to an end. The last
years with the Socialist caucus in the chamber combined with the
party's disciplinary policies eroded Laval's attachment to the cause.
With the Bolshevik victory in Russia the party was changing; at the
Congress of Tours in December 1920, the Socialists split into two
ideological components: the
French Communist PartyFrench Communist Party (SFIC later PCF),
inspired by Moscow, and the more moderate French Section of the
Workers' International (SFIO). Laval let his membership lapse, not
taking sides as the two factions battled over the legacy of Jean
Jaurès.
Mayor of Aubervilliers[edit]
In 1923
AubervilliersAubervilliers in northern Paris needed a mayor. As a former
deputy of the constituency, Laval was an obvious candidate. To be
eligible for election, Laval bought farmland, Les Bergeries. Few were
aware of his defection from the Socialists. Laval was also asked by
the local SFIO and Communist Party to head their lists. Laval chose to
run under his own list, of former socialists he convinced to leave the
party and work for him. This was an independent Socialist Party of
sorts that existed only in Aubervilliers. In a four-way race, Laval
won in the second round. He served as mayor of
AubervilliersAubervilliers until
just before his death.
Laval was seen as malin; a joke stated that he was so clever that he
was born with a name that is spelled the same from left or from
right.[8] Laval won over those he defeated by cultivating personal
contacts. He developed a network among the humble and the well-to-do
in Aubervilliers, and with mayors of neighbouring towns. He was the
only independent politician in the suburb. He avoided entering the
ideological war between socialists and communists.
Independent Deputy for the Seine[edit]
In the 1924 legislative elections, the SFIO and the Radicals formed a
national coalition known as the Cartel des Gauches. Laval headed a
list of independent socialists in the Seine. The cartel won and Laval
regained a seat in the National Assembly. His first act was to bring
back Joseph Caillaux, former Prime Minister, Cabinet member and member
of the National Assembly and once the star of the Radical Party.
Clemenceau had had Caillaux arrested toward the end of the war for
collusion with the enemy. He spent two years in prison and lost his
civic rights. Laval stood for Caillaux's pardon and won. Caillaux
became an influential patron.
As a member of the government[edit]
Minister and senator[edit]
Laval's reward for support of the cartel was appointment as Minister
of Public Works in the government of
Paul PainlevéPaul Painlevé in April 1925. Six
months later, the government collapsed. Laval from then on belonged to
the club of former ministers from which new ministers were drawn.
Between 1925 and 1926 Laval participated three more times in
governments of Aristide Briand, once as under-secretary to the premier
and twice as
Minister of Justice (garde des sceaux). When he first
became Minister of Justice, Laval abandoned his law practice to avoid
conflict of interest.
Laval's momentum was frozen after 1926 through a reshuffling of the
cartel majority orchestrated by the Radical-Socialist mayor and deputy
of Lyon, Édouard Herriot. Founded in 1901, the Radical Party became
the hinge faction of the Third Republic, whose support or defection
often meant survival or collapse of governments. Through this latest
swing, Laval was excluded from the government of France for four
years. Author Gaston Jacquemin suggested that Laval chose not to
partake in a Herriot government, which he judged incapable of handling
the financial crisis. 1926 marked the definitive break between Laval
and the left, but he maintained friends on the left.
In 1927 Laval was elected Senator for the Seine, withdrawing from and
placing himself above the political battles for majorities in the
Chamber of Deputies. He longed for a constitutional reform to
strengthen the executive branch and eliminate political instability,
the flaw of the Third Republic.
On 2 March 1930 Laval returned as Minister of Labour in the second
André TardieuAndré Tardieu government. Tardieu and Laval knew each other from the
days of Clemenceau, and had come to appreciate one another's
qualities. Tardieu needed men he could trust: his previous government
had collapsed a little over a week earlier because of the defection of
the minister of Labour, Louis Loucheur. But, when the Radical
Socialist
Camille ChautempsCamille Chautemps failed to form a viable government,
Tardieu was called back.
Personal investments[edit]
From 1927 to 1930, Laval began to accumulate a sizeable personal
fortune; after the war his wealth resulted in charges that he had used
his political position to line his own pockets. "I have always
thought", he wrote to the examining magistrate on 11 September 1945,
"that a soundly based material independence, if not indispensable,
gives those statesmen who possess it a much greater political
independence." Until 1927 his principal source of income had been his
fees as a lawyer and in that year they totalled 113,350 francs,
according to his income tax returns. Between August 1927 and June
1930, he undertook large-scale investments in various enterprises,
totalling 51 million francs. Not all this money was his own; it came
from a group of financiers who had the backing of an investment trust,
the Union Syndicale et Financière and two banks, the Comptoir Lyon
Allemand and the Banque Nationale de Crédit.[10]
Two of the investments which Laval and his backers acquired were
provincial newspapers, Le Moniteur du Puy-de-Dôme and its associated
printing works at Clermont-Ferrand, and the
LyonLyon Républicain. The
circulation of the Moniteur stood at 27,000 in 1926 before Laval took
it over. By 1933, it had more than doubled, peaking at 58,250, but
declining thereafter. Profits varied, but during the seventeen years
of his control, Laval earned some 39 million francs in income from the
paper and the printing works combined. The renewed plant was valued at
50 million francs, which led the high court expert in 1945 to say
with some justification that it had been "an excellent deal for
him."[11]
Minister of Labour and Social Insurance[edit]
More than 150,000 textile workers were on strike, and violence was
feared. As Minister of Public Works in 1925, Laval had ended the
strike of mine workers. Tardieu hoped he could do the same as Minister
of Labour. The conflict was settled without bloodshed. Socialist
politician Léon Blum, never one of Laval's allies, conceded that
Laval's "intervention was skillful, opportune and decisive."[12]
Social insurance had been on the agenda for ten years. It had passed
the Chamber of Deputies, but not the Senate, in 1928. Tardieu gave
Laval until May Day to get the project through. The date was chosen to
stifle the agitation of Labour Day. Laval's first effort went into
clarifying the muddled collection of texts. He then consulted employer
and labour organisations. Laval had to reconcile the divergent views
of Chamber and Senate. "Had it not been for Laval's unwearying
patience", Laval's associate Tissier wrote, "an agreement would never
have been achieved".[13] In two months Laval presented the Assembly a
text which overcame its original failure. It met the financial
constraints, reduced the control of the government, and preserved the
choice of doctors and their billing freedom. The Chamber and the
Senate passed the law with an overwhelming majority.
When the bill had passed its final stages, Tardieu described his
Minister of Labour as "displaying at every moment of the discussion as
much tenacity as restraint and ingenuity."[14]
First Laval government[edit]

Premier Laval is second from left, at a 1931 diplomatic function in
Germany

Tardieu's government ultimately proved unable to weather the Oustric
Affair. After the failure of the Oustric Bank, it appeared that
members of the government had improper ties to it. The scandal
involved
Minister of Justice Raoul Péret, and Under-Secretaries Henri
Falcoz and Eugène Lautier. Though Tardieu was not involved, on 4
December 1930, he lost his majority in the Senate. President Gaston
Doumergue called on
Louis BarthouLouis Barthou to form a government, but Barthou
failed. Doumergue turned to Laval, who fared no better. The following
month the government formed by
Théodore Steeg floundered. Doumergue
renewed his offer to Laval. On 27 January 1931 Laval successfully
formed his first government.
In the words of Léon Blum, the Socialist opposition was amazed and
disappointed that the ghost of Tardieu's government reappeared within
a few weeks of being defeated with Laval at its head, "like a night
bird surprised by the light." Laval's nomination as premier led to
speculation that Tardieu, the new agriculture minister, held the real
power in the Laval Government. Although Laval thought highly of
Tardieu and Briand, and applied policies in line with theirs, Laval
was not Tardieu's mouthpiece. Ministers who formed the Laval
government were in great part those who had formed Tardieu governments
but that was a function of the composite majority Laval could find at
the National Assembly. Raymond Poincaré,
Aristide BriandAristide Briand and Tardieu
before him had offered ministerial posts to Herriot's Radicals, but to
no avail.
Besides Briand, André Maginot, Pierre-Étienne Flandin, and Paul
Reynaud, Laval brought in as his advisors, friends such as Maurice
Foulon from
AubervilliersAubervilliers and Pierre Cathala, whom he knew from his
days in
BayonneBayonne and who had worked in Laval's Labour ministry. Cathala
began as Under-Secretary of the Interior and was appointed as Minister
of the Interior in January 1932.
Blaise DiagneBlaise Diagne of Senegal, the first
African deputy, had been elected to the National Assembly at the same
time as Laval in 1914. Laval invited Diagne to join his cabinet as
under-secretary to the colonies; he was the first Black African
appointed to a cabinet position in a French government. Laval also
called on financial experts such as Jacques Rueff, Charles Rist and
Adéodat Boissard.
André François-PoncetAndré François-Poncet was appointed as
under-secretary to the premier and then as ambassador to Germany.
Laval's government included an economist, Claude-Joseph Gignoux, when
economists in government service were rare.
France in 1931 was unaffected by the world economic crisis. Laval
declared on embarking for the United States on 16 October 1931,
"France remained healthy thanks to work and savings." Agriculture,
small industry, and protectionism were the bases of France's economy.
With a conservative policy of contained wages and limited social
services, France had accumulated the largest gold reserves in the
world after the United States. France reaped the benefit of
devaluation of the franc orchestrated by Poincaré, which made French
products competitive on the world market. In the whole of France,
12,000 people were recorded as unemployed.
Laval and his cabinet considered the economy and gold reserves as
means to diplomatic ends. Laval left to visit London,
BerlinBerlin and
Washington. He attended conferences on the world crisis, war
reparations and debt, disarmament, and the gold standard.
Role in 1931 Austrian financial crisis[edit]
In 1931, Austria underwent a banking crisis when its largest bank, the
Creditanstalt, was revealed to be nearly bankrupt, threatening a
worldwide financial crisis. World leaders began negotiating the terms
for an international loan to Austria's central government to sustain
its financial system; however, Laval blocked the proposed package for
nationalistic reasons. He demanded that France receive a series of
diplomatic concessions in exchange for its support, including
renunciation of a prospective German-Austrian customs union. This
proved to be fatal for the negotiations, which ultimately fell
through.[15][16] As a result, the
CreditanstaltCreditanstalt declared bankruptcy on
11 May 1931, precipitating a crisis that quickly spread to other
nations. Within four days, bank runs in
BudapestBudapest were underway, and
the bank failures began spreading to Germany and Britain, among
others.[17]
Hoover Moratorium (20 June 1931)[edit]
The
Hoover Moratorium of 1931, a proposal made by American President
Herbert HooverHerbert Hoover to freeze all intergovernmental debt repayments for a
one-year period, was, according to author and political advisor
McGeorge Bundy, "the most significant action taken by an American
president for Europe since Woodrow Wilson's administration."[citation
needed] The United States had enormous stakes in Germany: long-term
German borrowers owed the United States private sector more than
$1.25 billion; the short-term debt neared $1 billion. By
comparison, the entire United States national income in 1931 was just
$54 billion. To put it into perspective, authors Walter Lippmann
and William O. Scroggs stated in The United States in World Affairs,
an Account of American Foreign Relations, that "the American stake in
Germany's government and private obligations was equal to half that of
all the rest of the world combined."[page needed]
The proposed moratorium would also benefit Great Britain's investment
in Germany's private sector, making more likely the repayment of those
loans while the public indebtedness was frozen. It was in Hoover's
interest to offer aid to an ailing British economy in the light of the
indebtedness of Great Britain to the United States. France, on the
other hand, had a relatively small stake in Germany's private debt but
a huge interest in German reparations, and payment to France would be
compromised under Hoover's moratorium.
The scheme was further complicated by ill timing; perceived collusion
among the US, Great Britain and Germany, and the fact that it
constituted a breach of the Young Plan. Such breach could only be
approved in France by the National Assembly; the survival of the Laval
Government rested on the legislative body's approval of the
moratorium. Seventeen days elapsed between the proposal and the vote
of confidence of the French legislators. That delay was blamed for the
lack of success of the Hoover Moratorium. The US Congress did not
approve it until December 1931.
In support of the
Hoover Moratorium Laval undertook a year of personal
and direct diplomacy by which he traveled to London,
BerlinBerlin and the
United States. While there were considerable domestic achievements to
his name, his international efforts were short on results. British
Premier
Ramsay MacDonaldRamsay MacDonald and Foreign Secretary Arthur Henderson—
preoccupied by internal political divisions and the collapse of the
pound sterling— were unable to help.
German ChancellorGerman Chancellor Heinrich
Brüning and Foreign Minister Julius Curtius, both eager for
Franco-German reconciliation, were under siege on all sides. They
faced a very weak economy which made meeting the government payroll a
weekly miracle. Private bankruptcies and constant layoffs had the
Communists on a short fuse. At the other end of the political
spectrum, the German Army was spying on the Brüning cabinet and
feeding information to the
Stahlhelm, Bund der FrontsoldatenStahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten and the
National Socialists, effectively freezing any overtures towards
France.
In the United States the conference between Hoover and Laval was an
exercise in mutual frustration. Hoover's plan for a reduced military
had been rebuffed—albeit gently. A solution to the Danzig corridor
problem had been retracted. The concept of introducing a silver
standard for countries which left the gold standard was viewed by
Laval and
François Albert-Buisson as a frivolous proposal. Hoover
thought it might have helped "Mexico, India,
ChinaChina and South America",
but Laval dismissed the silver solution as an inflationary
proposition, adding that "it was cheaper to inflate paper."[18]
Laval did not get a security pact, without which the French would
never consider disarmament, nor did he obtain an endorsement for the
political moratorium. The promise to match any reduction of German
reparations with a decrease of the French debt was not put in the
communiqué. The joint statement declared the attachment of France and
the United States to the gold standard. The two governments also
agreed that the
Banque de FranceBanque de France and the
Federal ReserveFederal Reserve would consult
each other before transfers of gold. This was welcome news after the
run on American gold in the preceding weeks. In light of the financial
crisis, the leaders agreed to review the economic situation in Germany
before the Hoover moratorium had run its course.
These were meagre political results. The Hoover–Laval encounter,
however, had other effects: it made Laval more widely known and raised
his standing in the United States and France. The American and French
press were smitten. His optimism was such a contrast to his
grim-sounding international contemporaries that in Time magazine named
him as the 1931 Man of the Year,[19] an honour never bestowed before
on a Frenchman. He followed
Mohandas K. GandhiMohandas K. Gandhi and preceded Franklin
D. Roosevelt in receiving the honour.
1934–36[edit]
The second
Cartel des Gauches (Left-Wing Cartel) was driven from power
by the riots of 6 February 1934, staged by fascist, monarchist, and
other far-right groups. (These groups had contacts with some
conservative politicians, among whom were Laval and Marshal Philippe
Pétain.) Laval became Minister of Colonies in the new right-wing
government of Gaston Doumergue. In October, Foreign Minister Louis
Barthou was assassinated; Laval succeeded him, holding that office
until 1936.
At this time, Laval was opposed to Germany, the "hereditary enemy" of
France, and he pursued anti-German alliances. He met with Mussolini in
Rome, and they signed the
Franco-Italian AgreementFranco-Italian Agreement of 1935 on 4
January. The agreement ceded parts of
French SomalilandFrench Somaliland to Italy and
allowed her a free hand in Abyssinia, in exchange for support against
any German aggression.[20] Laval denied that he gave Mussolini a free
hand in Abyssinia; he even wrote to Il Duce on the subject.[21] In
April 1935, Laval persuaded Italy and Great Britain to join France in
the
Stresa Front against German ambitions in Austria. On 2 May 1935,
he likewise signed the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance.[22]
Laval's primary aim during the build-up to the Italo-Abyssinian War
was to retain Italy as an anti-German power and not to drive her into
Germany's hands by adopting a hostile attitude to an invasion of
Abyssinia.[23] According to the English historian Correlli Barnett, in
Laval's view "all that really mattered was Nazi Germany. His eyes were
on the demilitarised zone of the Rhineland; his thoughts on the
Locarno guarantees. To estrange Italy, one of the Locarno powers, over
such a question as Abyssinia did not appeal to Laval's Auvergnat
peasant mind".[24][25] In June 1935, he became Prime Minister as well.
In October 1935, Laval and British foreign minister Samuel Hoare
proposed a realpolitik solution to the Abyssinia Crisis. When leaked
to the media in December, the
Hoare–Laval Pact was widely denounced
as appeasement of Mussolini. Laval was forced to resign on 22 January
1936, and was driven completely out of ministerial politics. The
victory of the Popular Front in 1936 meant that Laval had a left-wing
government as a target for his media.
Under Vichy France[edit]
Formation of the Vichy Government[edit]
During the Phoney War, Laval was cautiously ambivalent towards the
conflict. He was on record as saying that although the war could have
been avoided by diplomatic means, it was now up to the government to
prosecute it with the utmost vigour.[26]
On 9 June 1940, the Germans were advancing on a front of more than 250
kilometres (160 mi) in length across the entire width of France.
As far as General
Maxime WeygandMaxime Weygand was concerned, "if the Germans
crossed the
SeineSeine and the Marne, it was the end."[27] Simultaneously,
Marshal
Philippe PétainPhilippe Pétain was increasing the pressure upon Prime
Minister
Paul ReynaudPaul Reynaud to call for an armistice. During this time Laval
was in Châteldon. On 10 June, in view of the German advance, the
government left Paris for Tours. Weygand had informed Reynaud: "the
final rupture of our lines may take place at any time." If that
happened "our forces would continue to fight until their strength and
resources were extinguished. But their disintegration would be no more
than a matter of time."[28] Weygand had avoided using the word
armistice, but it was on the minds of all those involved. Reynaud was
opposed to an armistice.
During this time Laval had left
ChâteldonChâteldon for Bordeaux, where his
daughter nearly convinced him of the necessity of going to the United
States. Instead, it was reported that he was sending "messengers and
messengers" to Pétain.[29]
As the Germans occupied Paris, Pétain was asked to form a new
government. To everyone's surprise, he produced a list of his
ministers, convincing proof that he had been expecting and had
prepared for the president's summons.[30] When informed that he was to
be appointed Minister of Justice, Laval's temper and ambitions became
apparent as he ferociously demanded of Pétain, despite the objections
of other men of government, that he be made Minister of Foreign
Affairs. Laval realised that only through this position could he
effect a reversal of alliances and bring himself to favour with Nazi
Germany, the military power he viewed as the inevitable victor.
However the Permanent Under-Secretary, Charles-Roux, refused to serve
under Laval.[31] One consequence of these events was that Laval was
later able to claim that he was not part of the government that
requested the armistice. His name did not appear in the chronicles of
events until June when he began to assume a more active role in
criticising the government's decision to leave France for North
Africa.

Vichy France

Although the final terms of the armistice were harsh, the French
colonial empire was left untouched and the French government was
allowed to administer the occupied and unoccupied zones. The concept
of "collaboration" was written into the Armistice Convention, before
Laval joined the government. The French representatives who affixed
their signatures to the text accepted the term.

Article III. In the occupied areas of France, the German Reich is to
exercise all the rights of an occupying power. The French government
promises to facilitate by all possible means the regulations relative
to the exercise of this right, and to carry out these regulations with
the participation of the French administration. The French government
will immediately order all the French authorities and administrative
services in the occupied zone to follow the regulations of the German
military authorities and to collaborate with the latter in a correct
manner.

Laval in the Vichy government, 1940–41[edit]
By this time, Laval now openly sympathized with fascism. He was
convinced that Germany would win the war, and felt France needed to
emulate its totalitarian regime as much as possible. To that end, when
he was included in the cabinet as minister of state, Laval set about
with the work for which he is remembered: dismantling the Third
Republic and its democracy and taking up the fascist cause.[32]
In October 1940, Laval understood collaboration more or less in the
same sense as Pétain. For both, to collaborate meant to give up the
least possible to get the most in return.[33] Laval, in his role of
go-between, was forced to be in constant touch with the German
authorities, to shift ground, to be wily, and to plan ahead. All this,
under the circumstances, drew more attention to him than to the
Marshal and made him appear to many Frenchmen as "the agent of
collaboration"; to others, he was "the Germans' man".[34]
The meetings between Pétain and Adolf Hitler, and between Laval and
Hitler, are often used as evidence of Vichy collaboration with the
Nazis. In fact
MontoireMontoire (24–26 October 1940) was a disappointment to
both sides.[citation needed] Hitler wanted France to declare war on
Britain, and the French wanted improved relations with her conqueror.
Neither happened. Virtually the only concession the French obtained
was the '
BerlinBerlin protocol' of 16 November 1940, which provided release
of certain categories of French prisoners of war.
In November 1940, Laval took a number of pro-German decisions of his
own, without consulting with colleagues. The most notorious examples
concerned turning the
RTB BorRTB Bor copper mines and the Belgian gold
reserves over to Nazi control. After the war, Laval's justification,
apart from a denial that he acted unilaterally, was that Vichy was
powerless to prevent the Germans from gaining something they were
clearly so eager to obtain.[35]
Laval's actions were a factor in his dismissal on 13 December 1940.
Pétain asked all the ministers to sign a collective letter of
resignation during a full cabinet meeting. Laval did so thinking it
was a device to get rid of M. Belin, the Minister of Labor. He was
therefore stunned when the Marshal announced, "the resignations of MM.
Laval and Ripert are accepted."[36] That evening, Laval was arrested
and driven by the police to his home in Châteldon. The following day,
Pétain announced his decision to remove Laval from the government.
The reason for Laval's dismissal lies in a fundamental incompatibility
with Pétain. Laval's methods of working appeared slovenly to Petain's
precise military mind, and he showed a marked lack of deference,
instanced by a habit of blowing cigarette smoke in Pétain's face. By
doing so he aroused Pétain's irritation and the anger of the entire
cabinet.[37]
On 27 August 1941, several top Vichyites including Laval attended a
review of the
Légion des Volontaires FrançaisLégion des Volontaires Français (LVF), a
collaborationist militia. Paul Collette, a disgruntled ex-member of
the Croix-de-Feu, attacked the reviewing stand; he shot Laval (and
also Marcel Déat, another prominent collaborationist), slightly
wounding him. Laval soon recovered from the injury.
Return to power, 1942[edit]

Laval and Pétain in Frank Capra's documentary film Divide and Conquer
(1943)

Laval returned to power in April 1942. In a radio speech he gave on 22
June 1942 he outlined his policy objectives, expressing his "desire to
re-establish normal and trusting relations with Germany and Italy". He
added he "wished for a German victory " because otherwise "Bolshevism
[would] establish itself everywhere.[38]" Laval had been in power for
a mere two months when he was faced with the decision of providing
forced workers to Germany. The Reich was short of skilled labour due
to its need for troop replacements on the Russian front. Unlike other
occupied countries, France was technically protected by the armistice,
and its workers could not be simply rounded up for transportation. In
the occupied zone, the Germans used intimidation and control of raw
materials to create unemployment and thus reasons for French labourers
to volunteer to work in Germany. Nazi officials demanded Laval send
more than 300,000 skilled workers immediately to factories in Germany.
Laval delayed, making a counter-offer of one worker in return for one
French POW. The proposal was sent to Hitler, and a compromise was
reached: one prisoner of war to be repatriated for every three workers
arriving in Germany.[39]
Laval's precise role in the deportation of Jews has been hotly debated
by both his accusers and defenders. When ordered to have all Jews in
France rounded up to be transported to German-occupied Poland, Laval
negotiated a compromise. He allowed only those Jews who were not
French citizens to be forfeited to German control. It was estimated
that by the end of the war, the Germans had killed 90 percent of the
Jewish population in other occupied countries, but in France fifty per
cent of the pre-war French and foreign Jewish population, with perhaps
ninety per cent of the purely French Jewish population still remaining
alive.[40] Laval went beyond the orders given to him by the Germans,
as he included Jewish children under 16, whom the Germans had given
him permission to spare, in the deportations. In his book Churches and
the Holocaust,
Mordecai Paldiel claims that when Protestant leader
Marc Boegner visited Laval to remonstrate. Laval claimed that he had
ordered children to be deported along with their parents because
families should not be separated and "children should remain with
their parents".[41] According to Paldiel, when Boegner argued that the
children would almost certainly die, Laval replied "not one [Jewish
child] must remain in France". Sarah Fishman (in a reliably sourced
book, but lacking citations) [discuss] writes that Laval also
attempted to prevent Jewish children gaining visas to America,
arranged by the American Friends Service Committee, and that Laval was
committed less to expelling Jewish children from France than to making
sure they reached Nazi camps.[42]

Laval with the head of German police units in France, Carl Oberg

More and more the insoluble dilemma of collaboration faced Laval and
his chief of staff, Jean Jardin. Laval had to maintain Vichy's
authority to prevent Germany from installing a
QuislingQuisling Government
made up of French Nazis such as Jacques Doriot.[43]
Leader of the Milice, 1943–45[edit]
In 1943, Laval became the nominal leader of the newly created Milice,
though its operational leader was Secretary General Joseph
Darnand.[44]
When the Allied landings in French North Africa (Operation Torch)
began, the Wehrmacht occupied the Zone libre. Hitler continued to ask
whether the French government was prepared to fight at his side,
requiring Vichy to declare war against Britain. Laval and Pétain
agreed to maintain a firm refusal. During this time and the Normandy
landings in 1944, Laval was in a struggle against
ultra-collaborationist ministers.
In a speech broadcast on the Normandy landings' D-day, he appealed to
the nation:

You are not in the war. You must not take part in the fighting. If you
do not observe this rule, if you show proof of indiscipline, you will
provoke reprisals the harshness of which the government would be
powerless to moderate. You would suffer, both physically and
materially, and you would add to your country's misfortunes. You will
refuse to heed the insidious appeals, which will be addressed to you.
Those who ask you to stop work or invite you to revolt are the enemies
of our country. You will refuse to aggravate the foreign war on our
soil with the horror of civil war... At this moment fraught with
drama, when the war has been carried on to our territory, show by your
worthy and disciplined attitude that you are thinking of France and
only of her."[45]

About two months later, he and some others were arrested by the
Germans and transported to Belfort.[46] In view of the speed of the
Allied advance, on 7 September 1944 what was left of the Vichy
government was moved from
BelfortBelfort to the
SigmaringenSigmaringen enclave in
Germany. Pétain took residence at the Hohenzollern castle in
Sigmaringen. At first Laval also resided in this castle. In January
1945 Laval was assigned to the Stauffenberg castle in Wilflingen[47]
12 km outside the
SigmaringenSigmaringen enclave. By April 1945 US General
George S. Patton's army approached Sigmaringen, so the Vichy ministers
were forced to seek their own refuge. Laval received permission to
enter Spain and was flown to Barcelona by a Luftwaffe plane. However,
90 days later, de Gaulle pressured Spain to expel Laval. The same
Luftwaffe plane that flew him to Spain flew him to the
American-occupied zone of Austria. The American authorities
immediately arrested Laval and his wife and turned them over to the
Free French. They were flown to Paris to be imprisoned at Fresnes
Prison. Madame Laval was later released;
Pierre LavalPierre Laval remained in
prison to be tried as a traitor.[48]
Prior to his arrest, Laval had planned to move to Sintra, Portugal,
where a house had been leased for him.[49][50]
Trial and execution[edit]
Two trials were to be held. Although it had its faults, the Pétain
trial permitted the presentation and examination of a vast amount of
pertinent material.[discuss] Scholars including
Robert Paxton and
Geoffrey Warner believe that Laval's trial demonstrated the
inadequacies of the judicial system and the poisonous political
atmosphere of that purge-trial era.[51][52] During his imprisonment
pending the verdict of his treason trial, Laval wrote his only book,
his posthumously published Diary (1948). His daughter, Josée de
Chambrun, smuggled it out of the prison page by page.[53]
Laval firmly believed that he would be able to convince his
fellow-countrymen that he had been acting in their best interests all
along. "Father-in-law wants a big trial which will illuminate
everything",
René de ChambrunRené de Chambrun told Laval's lawyers: "If he is given
time to prepare his defence, if he is allowed to speak, to call
witnesses and to obtain from abroad the information and documents
which he needs, he will confound his accusers."[54] "Do you want me to
tell you the set-up?" Laval asked one of his lawyers on 4 August.
"There will be no pre-trial hearings and no trial. I will be condemned
– and got rid of – before the elections."[55]
Laval's trial began at 1:30 pm on Thursday, 4 October 1945. He
was charged with plotting against the security of the State and
intelligence (collaboration) with the enemy. He had three defence
lawyers (Jaques Baraduc, Albert Naud, and Yves-Frédéric Jaffré).
None of his lawyers had met him before. He saw most of Jaffré, who
sat with him, talked, listened and took down notes that he wanted to
dictate. Baraduc, who quickly became convinced of Laval's innocence,
kept contact with the Chambruns and at first shared their conviction
that Laval would be acquitted or at most receive a sentence of
temporary exile. Naud, who had been a member of the Resistance,
believed Laval to be guilty and urged him to plead that he had made
grave errors but had acted under constraint. Laval would not listen to
him; he was convinced that he was innocent and could prove it. "He
acted", said Naud, "as if his career, not his life, was at stake."[56]
All three of his lawyers declined to be in court to hear the reading
of the formal charges, saying "We fear that the haste which has been
employed to open the hearings is inspired, not by judicial
preoccupations, but motivated by political considerations." In lieu of
attending the hearing, they sent letters stating the shortcomings and
asked to be discharged as counsel.[57] The court carried on without
them. The president of the court, Pierre Mongibeaux, announced the
trial had to be completed before the general election scheduled for 21
October.[58] Mongibeaux and Mornet, the public prosecutor, were unable
to control constant hostile outbursts from the jury. These occurred as
increasingly heated exchanges between Mongibeaux and Laval became
louder and louder. On the third day, Laval's three lawyers were with
him as the President of the Bar Association had advised them to resume
their duties.[59]
After the adjournment, Mongibeaux announced that the part of the
interrogation dealing with the charge of plotting against the security
of the state was concluded. To the charge of collaboration Laval
replied, "Monsieur le Président, the insulting way in which you
questioned me earlier and the demonstrations in which some members of
the jury indulged show me that I may be the victim of a judicial
crime. I do not want to be an accomplice; I prefer to remain silent."
Mongibeaux called the first of the prosecution witnesses, but they had
not expected to give evidence so soon and none were present.
Mongibeaux adjourned the hearing for the second time so that they
could be located. When the court reassembled half an hour later, Laval
was no longer in his place.[60]
Although Pierre-Henri Teitgen, the
Minister of Justice in Charles de
Gaulle's cabinet, personally appealed to Laval's lawyers to have him
attend the hearings, he declined to do so. Teitgen freely confirmed
the conduct of Mongibeaux and Mornet, professing he was unable to do
anything to curb them. A sentence of death was handed down in Laval's
absence. His lawyers were refused a re-trial.[61]
The execution was fixed for the morning of 15 October at Fresnes
Prison. Laval attempted to cheat the firing squad by taking poison
from a phial stitched inside the lining of his jacket. He did not
intend, he explained in a suicide note, that French soldiers should
become accomplices in a "judicial crime". The poison, however, was so
old that it was ineffective, and repeated stomach-pumpings revived
Laval.[62] Laval requested that his lawyers witness his execution. He
was shot shouting "Vive la France!" Shouts of "Murderers!" and "Long
live Laval!" were apparently heard from the prison.[63] Laval's widow
declared: "It is not the French way to try a man without letting him
speak", she told an English newspaper, "That's the way he always
fought against – the German way."[64]
His corpse was initially buried in an unmarked grave in the Thiais
cemetery, until it was buried in the Chambrun family mausoleum at the
Montparnasse CemeteryMontparnasse Cemetery in November.[1][65]
His daughter, Josée Laval, wrote a letter to Churchill in 1948,
suggesting the firing squad who killed her father "wore British
uniforms".[66][67][68] The letter was published in the June 1949 issue
of Human Events, an American conservative newspaper.[66][67][68]
The High Court, which functioned until 1949, judged 108 cases; it
pronounced eight death penalties, including one for an elderly
Pétain, whose appeal failed. Only three of the death penalties were
carried out: Pierre Laval; Fernand de Brinon, Vichy's Ambassador in
Paris to the German authorities; and Joseph Darnand, head of the
Milice.[69]
Governments[edit]
Laval's First Ministry, 27 January 1931 – 14 January 1932[edit]

11 September 1942 –
Max Bonnafous succeeds Le Roy Ladurie as
Minister of Agriculture, remaining also Minister of Supply
18 November 1942 – Jean-Charles Abrial succeeds Auphan as Minister
of Marine.
Jean Bichelonne succeeds Gibrat as Minister of
Communication, remaining also Minister of Industrial Production.
26 March 1943 –
Maurice Gabolde succeeds Barthélemy as Minister of
Justice.
Henri Bléhaut succeeds Abrial as Minister of Marine and
Brévié as Minister of Colonies.
21 November 1943 –
Jean Bichelonne succeeds Lagardelle as Minister
of Labour, remaining also Minister of Industrial Production and
Communication.
31 December 1943 – Minister of State
Lucien RomierLucien Romier resigns from the
government.
6 January 1944 –
Pierre CathalaPierre Cathala succeeds Bonnafous as Minister of
Agriculture and Supply, remaining also Minister of Finance and
National Economy.
3 March 1944 – The office of Minister of Supply is abolished. Pierre
Cathala remains Minister of Finance, National Economy, and
Agriculture.
16 March 1944 –
Marcel DéatMarcel Déat succeeds Bichelonne as Minister of
Labour and National Solidarity. Bichelonne remains Minister of
Industrial Production and Communication.

"Nazi diplomacy: Vichy, 1940", World War (essay), Hist clo .
View auction of Laval's possessions in 1944, ITN source .
The short film A German is tried for murder [&c (1945)] is
available for free download at the Internet Archive
"Pierre Laval: Devil's Advocate", Learn Law, Law's Hall of Shame,
Duhaime .

Political offices

Preceded by
Victor Peytral
Minister of Transportation
1925
Succeeded by
Anatole de Monzie